And...

So today we went in for our gender ultrasound. I'm just about 20 weeks along, so I knew we'd be able to get a good look as long as the baby cooperated. For a bit I wasn't sure as the baby was moving quite a bit. But after awhile, the baby settled down, and the ultrasound tech was able to get the measurements she needed and then swooped underneath and was able to see that we are having....A GIRL!

I looked right at Tito and said "I told you!" I've felt it was a girl since the beginning of this pregnancy. Just so many things were so different than my pregnancy with Santi. Craving sweets now while when I was pregnant with Santi I couldn't stand the sight of them, being so sick the first trimester, how I'm carrying, that I'm not even in maternity clothes yet (with Santi I was in them at 11 weeks!) etc., etc., etc.

So now we're both excited, and looking at all things pink! Here's a couple of photos from today:

That baby profile looks so much like Santi! So cute! At one point she was in there sucking her thumb which was something we never saw Santi do (and consequently Santi never used a pacifier outside of the hospital NICU.) The bottom one is her right foot - she was stamping on my uterus, which she does quite frequently!

So she'll be here in February, and we're glad to add a girl to our little family, but also to our extended families. In my family, on my mom's side, out of 11 cousins, there are only four girls. And when I was growing up, I was the only girl until I was 10, and then the next girl didn't come until I was 20, and then my cousin had a girl. But all the rest are boys. And on my dad's side, there are only myself and one other girl, with the other 6 cousins who are boys. And with Tito, he's one of three boys, has one cousin on his dad's side who is a girl and one cousin on his mom's side who is a girl. So the families are in need of some pink!

To Cloth Diaper or not to Cloth Diaper?

So baby #2 will be joining us in just about 4 months. I'm going back and forth on cloth diapering. We didn't do cloth with Santi because basically we were first time parents and it was intimidating. Disposable just seemed so much easier. It was what was "popular" and seemed to be what I knew. When I thought of cloth diapering, I thought of messy (especially with those little newborn messy poops), I thought of old school diaper pins and diaper covers. I thought it would be hard.

And then I saw some of the "new" cloth diapers. The pre-folds, the all in ones. The snaps which adjust to growing babies. It seemed easier. But by the time I discovered them, I'd also discovered the price. And despite the overall savings, selling diapers at $15 each to my husband when I just had stopped working, wasn't possible. For some reason, he convinced me that disposable diapers would be easier and somehow cost less in the long run. I think he was mostly afraid of the mess and having to wash them in the washer. What he didn't realize was that I was the one who was going to be doing that laundry since I'm home all day with the kids.

And then I discovered this link, to Hugga Buns on Maine Cloth Diaper. I actually own one Hugga Buns diaper and used it on Santi once when he was napping and it was a colossal fail as he peed through the whole thing. But I loved the idea of the diaper and they were cheaper than the FuzziBuns and other diapers I'd seen out there at about $10 a pop. Well on this site, they are currently listed for $5.50 each!  So I'm toying with the idea of getting some. Someone told me that you should really have about 20 diapers to start with and then add more over time. It's a little investment (if I got them at the sale price it'd be about  $110 but that's a lot better than the $300 I'd be spending on FuzziBuns or the other $15 each diapers.) But I'm still wavering.

So I made a list of pros and cons for cloth vs. disposable:

Cloth Cons:
1. Cost - Initial cost up front, but over time they pay for themselves.
2. Mess - Having to clean up something that I can't just throw away is a little icky, especially the early, breastfed baby poops
3. Skin reaction? - I've read some blogs and articles where some kids have interactions with the fabrics and it gives them rashes and other issues so they have to go to disposables anyway.
4. Will they really work? If not, am I stuck with a bunch of diapers I can't use and have to resell somewhere?
5. More laundry?

Cloth Pros:
1. Good for the environment - not having diapers in a landfill is a nice feeling
2. Cost less in the long run - enough said
3. Cute - yes, I'm a sucker for the colors!
4. Ease of use with the new diapers - just as easy as disposable, aside from having an extra "part" (the insert) to wash
5. No need for a Diaper Genie (i.e. stinky poopy diapers) in the room, although we'll need to get a diaper pail. But nothing stinks up Santi's room more than his Diaper Genie, even after bleaching it it still smells after awhile.
6. Being fiscally and environmentally responsible

Disposable Cons:
1. Diapers in a landfill = not good
2. Cost - we pay about $17 a pack for regular diapers and $20 a pack for overnights right now about once a month. When the baby is little it's almost twice a month because they use so many more
3. Smelly diapers in the Diaper Genie

Disposable Pros:
1. Ease of use and you can get them anywhere - we travel a lot, so we'd probably still use disposables for the travel portion of our trips, and then switch to cloth if we have access to clean them (like if we're staying with family and can do laundry while visiting.)
2. Ease of disposal - toss them into a little bag and then into the trash...no need to carry a stinky, poopy diaper with you in the diaper bag when you're out and about.

So I think we're going to bite the bullet and buy some and see how it goes. Once we find out what we're having for a baby (next Tuesday!) it will make it easier to buy the diapers since some of the colors are truly more "girly" than others, and I don't want to put a little boy in a lavender diaper! I think, just like anything with parenthood, once we get used to it, we will be wondering why we hadn't used them with Santi all along.  We'll be sticking with disposable for Santi though as my hope is to have him potty trained by the time he's 2. (More on this later, but this photo should illustrate what we've just started here in our household):

So what about you? Do you cloth diaper or not? What are your reasons for going one way or another? Have you switched with one child to the next?

19 week update

I can't believe I'm at 19 weeks! Halfway through this pregnancy (I am 99% sure I won't go to term since I was 3 weeks early with Santi, and we'll schedule a c-section with this one as well.)

How Far Along: 19 weeks (147 more days to go!)

What "They" Say About Our Baby's Development: Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Its brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that it may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to it, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you. Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom. Its arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of its body now. Its kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on its scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on its skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.



Weekly Food Comparison: An heirloom tomato...

The Good: The baby is kicking a lot, and I can feel it from the inside and the outside.

The Bad: Getting winded easily.


The Weird: Nothing too strange.

Currently Craving/Avoiding:

Avoiding: Not much!
Craving: Sugar, sugar and more sugar!

Doctor Updates: I have an appointment on Tuesday to find out if a little girl or a little boy will be joining our family. I'm thinking it's a girl still and Tito has been wavering back and forth but is now back to boy. I'm hoping I'm right, although I'm obviously happy with a boy as well. But having one of each would be nice too!


The Weekly Belly Bump: Here's the 19 week belly!

This is me last week in NC - hence the sunshine, bathing suit and smile on my face!

Welcome to our house!

So we're moved in and basically done. There are few things that are needed, and oh, the baby's room doesn't have anything other than random baby swings, rocker, and jumperoo, and some boxes in the closet. We won't be buying furniture until we know what we're having.

But come on in - here's the tour!

As you enter, to your right is the half bathroom. We didn't paint it this color, but for now we're keeping it. There's crown molding on the ceiling which is nice. I'd like to do a frame around the mirror, and we need to replace the seal on the toilet because they tried to take it with them and broke the seal. Der. Eventually, we'll also get rid of the linoleum, and replace it with tile.



The dining area. The entryway is to the right. The closet is a coat closet and we'll eventually get curtains. :) We'll also eventually get a new table and chairs...we're thinking rectangle with seating for at least 6 with maybe a leaf for extending to 8.



Living area - yes, curtains will be put in soon!



The kitchen - I love it. We'll eventually replace the linoleum with tile and hardwoods in the living area. And we'll also get a dishwasher that matches the stove and fridge. But for right now, two out of three isn't bad, right? :) And we need new barstools since those ones are too tall for the island.



Other side of the kitchen looking towards the pantry.



Pantry with our mini family command center.



Heading upstairs with our photo collage.



Top of the stairs is our office area.



Other side of the loft is the play area. We're going to get a little table and chairs to put up here eventually.



Looking back into the loft from the baby's room. On the left is our laundry closet.



The baby's room right now - needs paint, and furniture obviously.



Baby's room looking into the closet - just some random boxes in here right now.



Kid's bathroom. Yes, we need a shower curtain rod. And note the potty insert - we've started potty training as of yesterday! :)



Santi's room







Our room - needs curtains, needs some art.



Looking into the bathroom



Master Bathroom



Master closet - Tito's end



Master closet - my area



The other end of the closet which I'll be getting a built in desk for.



Back in our room - need some art over the bed and some curtains, cause in the right hand window, hello! That's the neighbors!  :)

So aside from the front yard, back yard and garage (which still need some shelving and a little organization), that's our house! We'll hopefully be doing some landscaping in the back yard and putting in a garden in the spring. And we'll be pulling out a dead plant (what I think was a rhododendron bush but has been cut down and there's just a stump) in the front and hopefully putting in something nice there in the spring too. And we're working on getting the grass from being more brown to being more green. And of course we'll get some patio furniture...right now all we have are two lawn chairs.

Thanks for stopping by!